Read: 2 Kings 17:1-18:12; Acts 20:1-38; Psalm 148:1-14; Provers 18:6-7
Ahaz was ruling Judah and he was an evil king who did not follow the Lord. There has not been a good king for a while in Israel and now Hoshea became king. He was evil, too.
The king of Assyria came up against Hoshea and he had to pay him to keep him from taking over. One year he decided not to give his tribute to the king of Assyria so Hoshea was put in prison and Samaria was besieged for three years. Then all the people of Samaria were taken away to Assyria became they had worshipped other gods. Now they would live in cities that didn’t worship God at all. They were given into the hands of the spoilers.
The king of Assyria replaced the Israelites with people from Babylon, Cuthoah, Ava, Hamath and Sepharaim in the cities of Samaria. They all brought their own gods with them. This was God’s land even though his people were not there, so God fought against the gods that had come into his land. He sent lions which killed and oppressed them. They went to the king of Assyria and told him what was happening and discerned that they needed a priest to come and teach them how to serve the god of the land which was Jehovah God.
They worshipped God along with their gods because they had no concept of one god.
In Judah, Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah became king and he was a good king and the first king to remove the high places and stop Judah from being able to serve false gods. He drained the religious swamp! During his reign the kingdom prospered and he refused to serve the king of Assyria for three years.
In the fourth year, the king of Assyria came and besieged Israel and took Samaria because they had abandoned the Lord.
You can see the stark contrast between a nation that follows the Lord: Judah, and one who turns away: Israel. Judah prospers and throws off any oppression from the enemy and Israel falls beneath its power. These are our choices. We can serve the Lord with our whole hearts and prosper or add other gods and become overcome by them.
In Acts, Paul escaped the worshippers of Diana and started on his last visit to all of the churches he had been a part of and planted. Paul was bound for Jerusalem where he knew, like Jesus, that he would face persecution and trial for his testimony of Christ. He gave them his last speech and left many sad that they would never see him again, but he wanted to make Jerusalem by Pentecost which marked the birth of the Church.
In one of his visits, a man fell out of a window on the third floor because he had fallen asleep. He fell to his death but Paul prayed for him and God raised him to life. Paul lived his life saving people from a much worse death and that was eternal death. He was coming to the end of his race.
Lord, help us to be as confident as Paul was at the end of his life. He knew that he had done all he had been called to do and that is our prayer.
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